“Mexican Modern Painting from the Andrés Blaisten Collection”: Immediately on the heels of “From El Greco to Dali: Great Spanish Masters From the Pérez Simón Collection” (which closes Nov. 6), the museum brings another exhibit from an ambitious Mexico City collector, Andrés Blaisten, who has amassed more than 8,000 pieces in a collection based at the Tlatelolco Cultural Center of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Nov. 5-Feb. 19. San Diego Museum of Art, Balboa Park. $12. (619) 232-7931 or

“San Diego’s Craft Revolution: From Post-War Modern to California Design”: Part of the monumental, Getty-sponsored “Pacific Standard Time” exhibition involving more than 60 arts institutions in Southern California, “San Diego’s Craft Revolution” will showcase about 60 San Diego artists. Guest-curated by Dave Hampton, it aspires to bring about nothing less than “a change in our perception” regarding San Diego as a center of craft, design and architecture post-World War II. Oct. 16-April 15. Mingei International Museum, Balboa Park. $8. (619) 239-0003 or

“Infinite Balance: Artists and the Environment”: The show is billing itself as the first U.S. presentation of artists involved with the Prix Pictet, a prize for photography and sustainability established in 2008 by the Geneva-based bank Pictet & Cie. Photographers include Sammy Baloji, Edward Burtynsky, Thomas Joshua Cooper, Susan Derges, Naoya Hatakeyama, Chris Jordan and Michael Wolf, who have created images around the themes of water, earth and growth. Oct. 11-Feb. 5. Museum of Photographic Arts, Balboa Park. $8. (619) 238-7559 or

“State of Mind: New California Art Circa 1970”: The California Center for the Arts, Escondido Museum, whose fall offerings might normally be found in this space, is out of commission. But if you drive into Orange County, this exhibition focused on pioneering Conceptual Art should be well worth it. Also part of “Pacific Standard Time,” it offers roughly 150 works, including films, videos, works on paper, photographs, installations and more in what promises to be an unusually comprehensive (the museum says the most comprehensive) survey of this pivotal and provocative genre. Oct. 9-Jan. 22. Orange County Museum of Art, 850 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach. $12. (949) 759-1122 or

“It’s Not My Fault: The Art of Everett Peck”: You want populist? The Oceanside Museum of Art is giving you populist. Oceanside native Everett Peck, best known for the 1994-97 animated series “Duckman,” has seemingly done it all: paintings, illustration, animation, cartooning. In his own undoubtedly tongue-in-cheek words (on his website), he’s all about “specializing in good art for nice folks.” Maybe he means nice folks with a sense of humor and an appreciation for the absurd. Sept. 11-Jan. 29. Oceanside Museum of Art, 704 Pier View Way, Oceanside. $8. (760) 435-3720 or

“Trash”

For the past year, animals have been the theme of much of the art at the New Children’s Museum. And once they are gone, some kids (and their parents) are bound to miss them, especially those mesmerizing, animal-cam-created videos stationed throughout the venue. (If you haven’t been to the New Children’s Museum lately, you must go. Now. Borrow someone else’s child if you have to. Just go before the museum closes in mid-September for its annual reincarnation.)

Starting in mid-October, “Trash” will reign at the museum: art made of trash, art teaching about trash, art-making projects involving trash. It will be all trash, all the time.

“The original kernel of the idea came to me because on Monday mornings, I wait with my 4-year-old, with the front door open, for the garbage truck to come by,” director Rachel Teagle said. “She’s so completely enthused. She’s into the whole process of the garbage can, the man, the truck, the beeping. Trash is a very kid-friendly topic.”

It’s also extremely topical, especially in the two worlds that intersect at the museum: art and education. Consult the June issue of Artnews magazine for a story on artists increasingly embracing trash. Or, you might visit an elementary school classroom to hear a discussion on recycling.

“There is a huge emphasis in the public school curriculum on the Three R’s, and one of our goals for the exhibition to expand that to the Five R’s,” Teagle said. “Every kid now knows we need to recycle, but that’s where it ends. We want to empower them with knowledge of some of the issues behind that — why water bottles are problematic, why plastic garbage bags are problematic. We want to take it to the next level.”

The 13 new interactive artworks will range from a maze constructed by Shinique Smith from bales of discarded clothing (exported by the U.S. to Africa) to Chris Sollars’ creation of a playground from a converted Dumpster (including an overhead video giving the illusion of trash being constantly poured into the Dumpster).

“What’s been so interesting to me as we’ve worked with teachers and artists in developing the program is this is an area where kids are totally educating their parents,” Teagle said. “I love that idea. I love the idea that a family who walks away from the exhibition would be in a position where the kids are teaching the parents something.”

Let’s get a head start. Name the Five R’s: rethink, reduce, recycle, reuse, renew.